Underoath - Lost in the Sound of Separation

Underoath - Lost in the Sound of SeparationRecord Label: Tooth & Nail / Solid State
Release Date: September 2, 2008

Good God; can you still get us home?

Success has its own weird way of trying to nip at your heels. One succeeds and accomplishes, many times with accolades and awards, sometimes with ceremonies and speeches. But unless one is retiring from his or her field of expertise, whether it is astronomy or public relations, one’s success during the rest of his or her career may fall solely on what that person has accomplished in the past. With that being said, if you’re any type of Underoath fan, I’m sure one of the thoughts that has been streaming through your consciousness has been if the band’s newest full-length album, Lost in the Sound of Separation is good; or more appropriately, if it is as good as the band’s last effort, Define the Great Line.

If an opening song is any indicator of what is about to happen on an album, “Breathing In A New Mentality” will scream “don’t thump your head against the wall.” Indeed, the song breathes heavily with gargantuan guitars and fierce vocals, amid a sound thrashing of the drums by sir Aaron Gillespie. The song seamlessly incorporates breakdown after breakdown and never quite settles into anything straightforward, a characteristic which drove much of Define the Great Line. The song ebbs into “Anyone Can Dig a Hole But it Takes a Real Man to Call it Home,” which boasts more ferocious vocals and the atonal riffing in the vein of Botch and Refused. The song is spacier, proffering some overdriven bass and an ending which is orchestrated grandly with Gillespie manning the lead vocal position: “I’m the one whose wrong.”

“A Fault Line, A Fault of Mine” adds eeriness to the mix with increasing delayed guitar and effects, the vocals less forgiving and deeper, a moving improvement upon Define the Great Line. Gillespie’s parts are also arranged better, often taking the lead for several measures. Indeed, Lost in the Sound of Separation takes the best of Define the Great Line and improves upon it, such as in “Emergency Broadcast: The End is Near,” stylistically similar to “To Whom it May Concern,” but much more eerie and ambient, sometimes taking steps into the experimental realm - most notably in Gillespie’s drumming, which is not only produced near perfection, but also explores superb new rhythms and patterns. The album moves as one strong idea, with everything sounding much heavier and bigger, such as “The Only Survivor Was Miraculously Unharmed” a song riddled with bludgeoning intensity and some of the band’s best lyrics to date: “I can’t keep clawing at the jaws of Hell.” However, the songs sometimes do get lost in the broader idea and begin to lose their identity (“We Are the Involuntary,” The Created Void”) one characteristic that wasn’t present on Define the Great Line. The album’s first single “Desperate Times, Desperate Measures” is also stylistically the most similar to Define the Great Line, and remains one of my least favorite songs on the record.

“Too Bright To See, Too Loud To Hear,” however, is the Michael Jordan of this record. It marks a new standard for the band in mood and tonal qualities; we hear Chamberlain sing (which he can do quite well), and with the marching thump of a bass drum with accompanying handclaps, the song breaks down with composure behind Gillespie, vanquishing all any doubt that this is his most forward-thinking drumming to date, all the while singing “Good God, can you still get us home?”

Lost in the Sound of Separation is a record made to break some boundaries and a record aimed to be as a huge sounding as possible. It’s fair to say that there isn’t a bad song on this record, and it’s fair to say that some of the band’s best music is contained somewhere between the first track and the last - and although, at times, a song may get lost in the bigger, more pounding idea of the record, the positive outweighs the negative like a mismatched scale of ivory and feathers, for even though this all may be one big idea... it’s certainly the band’s best one to date.

This album has definitely been a grower for me, even more so than their last record. "They're Only Chasing Saftey" was instantly likable to me, because of it's standard pop structure of verse chorus verse for most (if not all) songs, and because the genre is almost completely different (screamo rather than hardcore?)

However, the lyrics are extremely strong on this record, and that's what really makes UnderOath for me, even though my favorite song on the record sounds like it'd fit better on an Almost record.

This album has definitely been a grower for me, even more so than their last record. "They're Only Chasing Saftey" was instantly likable to me, because of it's standard pop structure of verse chorus verse for most (if not all) songs, and because the genre is almost completely different (screamo rather than hardcore?)

However, the lyrics are extremely strong on this record, and that's what really makes UnderOath for me, even though my favorite song on the record sounds like it'd fit better on an Almost record.

this is one god awful album. Define the great line had such powerful songs. Tracks, 1,2,4,6 and 9. This new album seems to be following the same style but different format.
Why the instruments sound the same as DTGL, Aaron sounds more like his ALMOST self instead of his Underoath self which is a not a good thing. I miss DTGL underoath.
These guys are determined to not make the same record twice, but now i feel like they shot themselves in the foot.

this is one god awful album. Define the great line had such powerful songs. Tracks, 1,2,4,6 and 9. This new album seems to be following the same style but different format.
Why the instruments sound the same as DTGL, Aaron sounds more like his ALMOST self instead of his Underoath self which is a not a good thing. I miss DTGL underoath.
These guys are determined to not make the same record twice, but now i feel like they shot themselves in the foot.

oceana does a good job ripping off UO, along with numerous other scene bands. oceana is an immature UO basically. UO doesn't have the easy accesibility that comes with most scene bands, but if you dig into it, you'll find that they're no different than every other band in the scene that rips off of them, and maybe you'll enjoy them then

anyway, i liked the album both as a semi-guilty pleasure and as a fan of their message

oceana does a good job ripping off UO, along with numerous other scene bands. oceana is an immature UO basically. UO doesn't have the easy accesibility that comes with most scene bands, but if you dig into it, you'll find that they're no different than every other band in the scene that rips off of them, and maybe you'll enjoy them then

anyway, i liked the album both as a semi-guilty pleasure and as a fan of their message

UO is THE bandwagon scene band, I don't know what you're talking about.

well, i guess you're right. it's hard to be a scene band w/o ripping off UO in some way. still, they're easy to compare to bands like eyes set to kill or before their eyes, which isn't a good thing at all.

well, i guess you're right. it's hard to be a scene band w/o ripping off UO in some way. still, they're easy to compare to bands like eyes set to kill or before their eyes, which isn't a good thing at all.

Oceana? Not particularly. I think Eyes Set to Kill has pretty much THE "Scene Sound."